RECOMMENDED FOREX BROKERS
IG is a trading name of IG Markets Ltd and IG Index Limited, both registered in the UK and Wales. This is a review of ig.com/uk/, henceforth referred to as IG UK.
For the ig.com/au review click here. For the ig.com/us review click here.
IG UK is a monster of a broker, without question earning the praise and rewards it has been receiving. But is this broker a gentle giant, or a ravenous beast?
IG UK is regulated and authorized under the strict rules of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which enforces strict financial and investment standards for all UK brokers to abide by. Alongside the FCA is the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which, in the event of the company becoming insolvent, will reimburse victimized traders with up to £85 000.
The leverage at IG UK is limited by ESMA to 1:30. With that said, professional clients (extensive experience in trading, over $500k in finances) can apply for a higher leverage within the confines of ESMA regulated territory.
The average EUR/USD spread is 0.6 pips.
The brokerage offers a very satisfactory supply of instruments for trade: Currency Pairs, Indices, Shares, Commodities, Cryptocurrencies, Bonds, Options, ETFs, Sectors.
The availability of the website is limited to only English.
IG LOGIN
IG offers a qualitative array of trading platforms, each different than the last one: MT4, IG Trading Platform and L2 Dealer.
IG TRADING PLATFORM
This proprietary terminal has a lot to offer, but can be somewhat overwhelming when you first start using it. Traders will notice that there is much room for personal preferences when it comes to design and look by adjusting their own layout according to taste, while also taking advantage of the platform’s responsive charts, automated trading, signal providers, real time news addition, and much more. What’s more, traders have access to an advanced charting package (ProRealTime). This package opens up a whole new world of opportunities: automated spread betting, build trading strategies by exporting third party ones or build them from scratch, etc. The sky is the limit. To use ProRealTime for free traders must make at least 4 transaction per month. If they do not meet this criteria then they will be charged with $40 per month fee. The platform is truly an accomplishment and has numerous times been honored with prizes and acclaims.
The leverage is limited to 1:30, while the EUR/USD spread is 0.6 pips.
The IG Trading Platform is available through browser, and as a device app from the Play or App stores.
L2 DEALER
L2Dealer is a direct market access (DMA) platform. To generalize, this enables clients to trade Forex pairs and stock CFDs directly with liquidity providers without any dealing desk intervention. In layman terms it would be: once a trade is placed, the order is directly send for execution at the exchange. DMA trading is complex and aimed towards more learned traders, so we would recommend for newer users to do their extensive research first before diving into this. If users want L2 DMA access for trading with shares, there will be monthly charges for this, which was not indicated on the website.
The direct spread for EUR/USD is 0.16 pips.
For DMA trading there is a peculiar commission structure. To simplify, the more you trade the less the commission will be:
If you trade with less than $100 million, you would be charged $60 (per side) per 1 million. So, for example if you trade $1 million, you will be charged $60, which increases the direct spread with 0.6 pips.
Users can directly download this platform for desktop. There is no mobile device support, nor is there any web trader version.
METATRADER 4
As a leading trading platform, MT4 has become a household name. IG has adapted MT4 as its primary platform by offering some great features: micro lots, automated trading bots, 500 individual orders per account, VPSs (Virtual Private Servers), customizable trading indicators, and much more. The broker has included numerous add-on features that add an extra layer of immersion.
The leverage is limited to 1:30, while the EUR/USD is only 0.6-0.75 pips.
MT4 is available to be downloaded and installed as a standalone software, or can be accessed through an Apple or Android app.
IG MINIMUM DEPOSIT
The minimum deposit is $450 which is almost twice the average requirement. This leads us to believe that IG UK is aimed towards more experienced and affluent traders.
Use Credit/Debit Card, Wire Transfer or PayPal to deposit funds into your account.
Base currencies are not indicated without opening an account. We can speculate, deriving from our generalization of brokers, that EUR, GBP, and USD should be included (at least).
The same can be said for deposit process times and fees (if any). The broker has simply chosen to withhold such information for non-registered and unverified users. We presume that fees should be insignificant, except for PayPal, while process times shouldn’t surpass the 1 day time frame.
IG WITHDRAWAL TIME AND FEES
The FCA regulation promises a secure and safe journey for your funds from the broker directly to your personal account.
Withdrawal methods are vaguely mentioned. Users will be able to withdraw via card or Bank Wire.
Normally, Bank Transfer withdrawals should arrive within 24 hours. If the request is submitted before midday (UK time) funds should arrive between 2pm and 6pm of the same day. Credit Card withdrawals usually take from 2-5 days to be credited to a users personal account.
IG UK, unsurprisingly considering the concealment of deposit information, has not indicated fees for the withdrawal methods, unless one has a verified Live account. Normally, Credit/Debit Card fees do not surpass the 3% of the total withdrawal amount, while for Wire Transfer they can reach up to $50 (and more).
By now, we aren’t surprised by the lack of missing minimum withdrawal instructions. Based on pure assumptions, we can conclude that it should not be more than 25$ for Bank Transfer, and $1-$5 for Credit/Debit Card.
Dormant account holders will be charged with £12 for every month, if there is no trading detected in their account for 2+ years.
BOTTOM LINE
IG UK is sky rocketing with all it has to offer. It has clearly adapted its services for more prominent and advanced traders, and has left almost no room for the little guy. But the fact of the matter is that it’s obviously working out for them. The missing instructions on deposit/withdrawal methods can be seen as a let down, yet, since we have concluded that IG UK is aimed for adept traders, we can deduce that such an audience would not need this information for they would already be aware of it.
